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June 2, 1931. I H. FISCHER 1,307,656

PLURAL COLOR PRINTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 8, 1928 cylinders.

Patented June 2, 1931 UNITED STATES HANS FISCHER, OF AUGSBURG, GERMANY,

ASSIGNOR '10 MASCHINENFAIBRIK AUGS- BURG-NURNBERG A. G., OF AUGSBURG, GERMANY, A CORPORATION OF GERMANY PLURAL COLOR PRINTING MACHINE Application filed DecemberS, 1928, Serial No.

My invention relates to plural color printing machines, especially intaglio printing machines, and essentially consists in the provisionot controlling means whereby the several printing works of the machine may be successively thrown-in and out.

In printing machines of the aforementioned kind there is frequently a demand to disconnect the printing cylinder and the form cylinder from each other. In case of single color printing machines this disconnection may be accomplished by means of a periodically reciprocating pawl which by the aid of a hand or foot lever may be so rotated that it engages with a stop provided on the control lever and by rotation of the latter effects the disconnection of the form cylinder. In case of plural color printing machines it is desirable to disconnect the term cylinders not simultaneously but successively, and more particularly at such periods of time that the sheet which is provided with thefirst print will still have time to pass through the other printing works. To this end arrangements have been, proposed, which consist, for instance, of a reversible switch provided on the printing cylinder, said reversible switch being adjustable by means of a second switch so that dur- Eng further operation of the printing cylinder it will successively act upon a plurality of levers provided with rollers each lever serving for disconnecting one of the rubber This arrangement, however, is quite complicated and besides has thedisad vantage that an unsymmetrical load is im posed on the printing cylinder due to the switch provided thereon, making it difficult to properly balance said cylinder. According to this invention, the'same effect may be attained with an essentially less 'com.plicated device and in addition to this, the aforementioned drawback will be avoided. The present device consists of a single actuating member which disconnects all printing cylinders in succession from the form cylinders or vice versa. Upon the disconnecting lever being actuated according to my invention, a periodically moving pawl which is controlled by the printing cylinder or an 324,608, .and in Germany December 12, 1927.

other suitable organ is rotated in such a way that it will engage first with a stop on the disconnecting lever for the first form cylinder and upon further rotation with another stop on said disconnecting lever for the sec- 0nd cylinder. According to my invention, therefore, all the form cylinders may be successively disconnected by means of a single actuating pawl.

- In the accompanying drawings, I have represented an embodiment of my invention, Fig. 1' being a lateral VIGW'O-f an actuating mechanism and Figs. 2-and 3 being enlarged detail views of the actuating pawl which forms part of said mechanism in two different working positions.

Printing may be discontinued by the rotation of the eccentric sleeves 1 and 2 which form bearings for the two printing cylinders I and II. Rotation is imparted to said eccentric sleeves 1 and 2 by a pawl 3 which makes a reciprocating motion during each rotation of the printing cylinder, III, said reciprocating motion being in accordance with the deflection of the roller 4 which engages with the cam 5 provided on-the printing cylinder III. This deflection of the roller 4 which is mounted on the lever 6 is transmitted'by the rod 7 to the lever 8 as shown in Fig. 3, said lever being connected by way of a pivot 9 with the pawl 3 and mounted loosely rotatable on the shaft 12. The pawl 3 carries a roller 13 which engages with a guide groove in the curved segment let which forms the free end of the two-arm lever 16 pivoted at the fixed point 15. The segment 14 may be adjusted by means of the two-arm pedal 17 by means of the two-arm lever 18, the rod 19 and the two-arm lever 16. According to the position of the segment 14: either the edge a or the edge I) of the pawl 3 will come in engaging postion. Figs. 1 and 2 show the position in which the printing cylinder has just been disconnected. Upon pressing down the right-hand part of the pedal 17 the curved segment 14 will be rocked towards the left and the pawl 3 accordingly will be rotated in clockwise direction so that its edge I) will engage with the stop (5 provided on the segmental member 10. This segmental member 10 is equipped with two stops in the form of stops 0 and d and is secured to shaft 12, while the segmental member 11 is loosely mounted on the shaft and equipped with four stops or noses e, f, and h. The arrangement now is so made that the nose 7 on the segmental member 11 is somewhat displaced relative to stop (Z of the segmental member 10 and also positioned somewhat nearer to the center of the shaft 12 than the stop d. In this manner the edge 7) of the pawl 3 when coming into condition of engagement will first act upon stop (Z, thus rotating the latter together with the lever 20. By this the eccentric sleeve 1 which forms a bearing for the form cylinder I will now be rotated. by means of the rod 20 so that the form cylinder will be disconnected. Towards the end of the rotation of the segmental member 10 the edge 6 of the pawl 3 will carry with it the stop h of the member 11 to the extent of displacement between the stop 7 of the member 11 and the stop (1 on the member 10. During the backward swinging of pawl 3, its edge Z) may engage with the stop f on the member 11 as shown in Fig. 3, thus rotating said member 11. By this rotation the eccentric bearing sleeve 2 of the form cylinder II is rotated by means of the rod 21, the lever 22, the shaft 23 and the rods 24. The form cylinder II will thereby be disconnected.

Ihe pawl 3 now swings idle until the lefthand part of the pedal 17 is depressed which will cause the edge a of the pawl 8 to come in engaging position. The reverse procedure will now take place i. e. firstly the form cylinder II and thereupon the form cylinder I will be rendered operative.

Obviously instead of the form cylinder being disconnected from the printing cylinder, the latter may also be disconnected from the former.

I claim:

1. In a multi-color printing machine, a pair of printing mechanisms each comprising a pair of cooperating printing cylinders one of which is movable toward and from the other, a pair of ratchet members, connections between said ratchet members and said movable cylinders, respectively, whereby movement of each ratchet member in opposite directions efiects movement of its related movable cylinder toward and from its companion cylinder, a reciprocal pawl cooperating with said ratchet members, means for recip rocating said pawl, and means whereby reciprocation of said pawl successively operates said ratchet members to successively more said movable cylinders toward their companion cylinders.

2. In a multi-color printing machine, a pair of printing mechanisms each comprising a pair of cooperating printing cylinders one of which is movable toward and from the other, a pair of ratchet members, connections between said ratchet members and said movable cylinders, respectively, whereby movement of each ratchet member in opposite directions efi'ects movement of its related movable cylinder toward and from its companion cylinder, a reciprocal pawl cooperating with said ratchet members, means for reciprocating said pawl, and means whereby reciprocation. of said pawl successively operates said ratchet members to successively move said movable cylinders away from their companion cylinders.

In a multi-color printing machine, a pair of printing mechanisms each comprising a pair of cooperating printing cylinders one of which movable to ard and from the other, a pair of ratchet members, connections between said ratchet members and said movable cylinders, respectively. whereby movement of each ratchet member in opposite directions eii'ects movement of its related movable cylinder toward and from its companion cylinder, a reciprocal pawl cooperating with said ratchet members, means for reciprocating said pawl, means whereby actuation of said pawl successively operates said ratchet members to successively move said movable cylinders toward their companion cylinders, and control means for said pawl manually operable to render said pawl effective by continued reciprocation thereof to successively move said movable cylinders away from their companion cylinders.

4. In a multi-color printing machine, a pair of printing mechanisms each comprising a pair of cooperating printing cylinders one of which is movable toward and from the other, a pair of ratchet members, connections between said ratchet members and said movable cylinders, respectively, whereby movement of each ratchet member in opposite directions efi'ects movement of its related movable cylinder toward and from its companion cylinder, a reciprocal pawl cooperating with said ratchet members, means for reciprocating said pawl, means whereby actuation of said pawl successively operates said ratchet members to successively move said movable cylinders toward their companion cylinders, and control means for said pawl manually operable to render said pawl effective by continued reciprocation thereof to successively move said movable cylinders away from their companion cylinders, said control means comprising a cam member, a cooperating cam follower carried by the pawl and means for adjusting the cam member.

5. In a multi-color printing machine, a pair of printing mechanisms each comprising a pair of cooperating printing cylinders one of which is movable toward and from the other, a pair of ratchet members each hav ing spaced abutments, connections between said ratchet members and said movable cylinders, respectively, whereby movement of each ratchet member in opposite directions effects movement of its related movable cylinder toward and from its companion cylinder, a double-end intermediately pivoted reciprocal pawl, control means manually op- 5 erable to cause said pawl during reciprocation thereof to tilt about its pivot to position the respective ends thereof for alternate cooperation with the abutments on said ratchet members, and means whereby reciprocation of said pawl in one tilted position thereof is effective to successively operate said ratchet members to successively move said movable cylinders toward their companion cylinders and in the other tilted position thereof to suecessively move said ratchet members to successively move said movable cylinders away from their companion cylinders.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

20 HANS FISCHER. 

